Metal Mother

Hailing from the dregs of Oakland, CA is Metal Mother, the dark-wave, avant-pop project of musician Taara Tati. Ionika, the sophomore Metal Mother album, came out on the artist's own Post Primal label on April 16th, 2013.

Tati first drew attention to Metal Mother in 2011 with the debut album Bonfire Diaries, which made a bold display of Tati's unique use of heavy electronic and tribal drums, obscure arrangements, Celtic-melancholic vocal layering, and dark, analog synth melodies. The sounds came together in a way that pleased fans of artists such as Cocteau Twins, Kate Bush, Enya, and Nine Inch Nails.

Bonfire Diaries, and its mesmerizing video for the single "Shake," went on to receive numerous press accolades, including a "Best of 2011" designation from the San Francisco Bay Guardian which described Tati as "some sort of neon, acid-drenched wood nymph" and "a pop artist in the same vein as Bjork" with "a bold and elemental sound." BUST simply proclaimed Tati "definitely captivating" while MTV's Iggy website figured that Tati had "reinvented metal aesthetics for the sake of dark, tribal folk pop." San Francisco-based glossy SOMA described Bonfire Diaries as "full of beautiful, eerie, unfamiliar sounds," and Performer Magazine gave Metal Mother its cover.

Now Tati has made good on the promise of her first record with Ionika, a stunning sophomore set. Produced in a studio overlooking a harsh corner of downtown Oakland, California where homelessness and prostitution are rampant, Ionika came to be a mashup of the industrial, the tragic, and the etheric.

marco de la vega

darkness and bass with an 808 kick.
with regular showcases at 1015 Folsom, Public Works, DNA Lounge, and Elbo Room as well as intimate gallery based performances... S4NtA_Mu3rTE (birth name Marco Antonio Enrique de la Vega) mixes touchstones of contemporary culture, like trap rap, future bass, and pop music together with snippets of art, performance and social commentary to produce something otherworldly, dark, and undeniably ass shaking.